Thursday, February 28, 2008

Troubleshooting Windows

Put some pep back into the OS.
Does it seem like Windows has been running in slow motion? It's not your imagination. Over time, Windows becomes progressively slower, ultimately reaching the point where system startups become agonizing affairs. It doesn't have to be that way. Here's how to put a little pep back into that sluggish system.
Manage your apps: Over time, installed applications can overrun your system, consuming hard disk space, system memory, and processor time. Try going to the Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs tool and seeing if you can pare down some of the installed software.


Bar the gates: One of the biggest problems is that many programs run all the time, even though you don't need them to. Adobe Acrobat, for instance, loads an inane applet to keep tabs on when you need to view a PDF--despite the fact that a simple Windows file association ensures that Acrobat launches whenever you double-click a PDF file. Media-playing software is another frequent culprit. You can often disable this resource-hogging behavior in each applet (try right-clicking the applet icon in the Windows taskbar tray and clicking Properties or Options if applicable).
You can also knock out these preloaders in Windows. Click Start, Run and type msconfig and press OK. Click the Services tab, and uncheck any items in the list that you know you won't need. Click OK, and next time you launch, those services won't load into Windows.
Line 'em up: Another source of system slowdown is hard disk fragmentation, which occurs over time as files get written. As files change and grow, there often isn't free space to keep all the bits lined up in a row, so Windows places the data elsewhere and keeps tabs on how to pull the file together. While it all works well enough, these fragmented files force the disk to hunt down disconnected bits, slowing things down.
To line everything up again, open My Computer, right-click the drive you want to defragment, and click Properties. Then click the Tools tab and click Defragment Now. You can click the Analyze button to get a report showing you how mixed up your files are, or click Defragment to jump right into the process. Be warned, this can take an hour or longer on big drives. Also, the more free space you have on your disk when you defragment, the better.
Clean out the Registry: Even if you uninstall old applications and banish rude startup applets using MSCONFIG, the bits and chunks of software in your Windows Registry can still drag down your system. Utilities like Norton SystemWorks ($70) and VCOM SystemSuite Professional ($60) peer through thousands of Registry entries to sweep out unnecessary entries.
Test yourself: Want to avoid falling into the degrading-performance trap? PC Wizard is a free benchmarking application that lets you explore every aspect of your PC's performance--from memory and CPU to disk and graphics performance.
Michael Desmond is publishing director at Bock Interactive, a Web-commerce development firm in Burlington, Vermont.
Michael Desmond

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